“Sure,” Morgan said, wondering what was up. “You okay?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to brush it all off, but she needed him—needed the distraction he could provide, if nothing else.
“No,” Thea said honestly. “Someone I love is dying and I can’t stop it. Someone else I care about is hurting, and I can’t stop that either. I don’t know what to do about it, so I need your help.”
“You got it,” Morgan said firmly. “I’ll be right there.”
Thea nodded and walked slowly through the kitchen doors, not even setting them swinging.
“Any light you can shed on this?” Morgan asked Amy.
Amy shook her head no.
“Thea doesn’t share much with anyone. I’ve never known her to ask for help before or to say what was bothering her. In fact, I’ve never seen that woman look so defeated since—since Angus died,” she finished, looking to see if it bothered Morgan to hear it. All she saw was concern in his face.
Morgan nodded. “Must be bad then. I’m done with the food. How do I find her office?”
“Through the doors and hang a right. It’s past the freezer and pantry, last door at the end of the hall.”
“Thanks,” Morgan tucked a twenty by the plate. “Keep the change.”
*** *** ***
Any other time Morgan would have been curious enough to take note of what he saw as he walked through the kitchen, but it was like Thea was mentally calling to him. He hurried past everything as if he was rushing to put out a fire.
The office door was ajar and Thea sat at her desk, her head in her hands. Morgan walked in quietly and closed the door softly behind him.
“Amy said you were out on family business,” Morgan began.
“Yes. My mother-in-law is dying. I spent the last hour telling everyone who knows her that she’s only got a short time left. Death of elders is inevitable and my logical mind knows that, but the heart still hurts. When you get to be my age, it seems to happen more often than you can rebound from at times,” Thea said softly.
“What can I do to help you, Thea?” Morgan asked, putting his hands in his pockets to be sure he listened.
His instinct was to go to her, take her in his arms, and offer all the physical comfort he could. When the first tear rolled down her cheek, Morgan started walking toward her, too compelled by his heart to listen to his logical brain any longer.
“Make me feel alive if you can, Morgan Reed. Help me believe that my life isn’t ending as well,” she said, the words fading off as Morgan put his hands on her arms to pull her up from the chair. “Because today it feels like I might be dying too.”
Morgan folded her body into his. “Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing by people you care about. When my mother died, I had no idea what to do at all. We’re just human in the end. You have to give yourself credit for doing what you can.”
Thea sniffed and slowly wrapped her arms around him. He was strange and comforting all at once.
“I shouldn’t be asking you to do this now while I’m hurting. I just—I needed to lean on someone for a few moments, and you seemed to want to—I know I probably shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Are you kidding? Hugging me is exactly what you should be doing,” Morgan said simply, because holding her was what they both wanted. It didn’t matter to him that their reasons were different.
Morgan ran his hands over Thea, tracing the curves of her back and the swell of her hips. He lifted her against him in a hug meant to transfer heat, comfort, and life. “You feel just as good in my arms as I imagined you would. I’m glad you asked me for this. I’m glad to be the one comforting you, Thea.”
The deep groan of pain that seeped out of her had Morgan hugging Thea fiercely. If she disintegrated on him, he wasn’t sure what he would do.
“None of that, you hear me. Kiss me, lady. Give me your mouth, and I’ll make you forget. Hell, I’m taking it anyway.”
And he did.
Morgan lifted Thea’s chin with his hand and slanted his mouth over hers gently—touching, tasting, nibbling his way from corner to corner, until her lips parted. He delved in once, just once with his tongue, stroking along hers so she would know his desire was true.
Then Morgan came back to the rest of her mouth, which was glorious, before moving across her face, licking away tears as he went, more disturbed by them than he wanted to admit.
“Don’t tell him I said so, but you kiss even better than Gerald,” Thea said softly, laughing as tears flowed freely. Waking up after a long time of feeling nothing was both pleasure and pain.
Morgan laughed and paused. “Great. Good to know I kiss better than my father, the local Lothario. Now kiss me back, woman. Show me what you got.”
He returned to her mouth then, kissing deeply and reeling from the taste of her.
Thea abandoned caution in favor of forgetting, even if only momentarily, that everyone she loved would eventually die and leave her alone.
“Okay. Let me. Let me,” she pleaded against his still exploring mouth.
“What? Let you what?” Morgan asked, leaning away a little.
Thea pulled his face to hers and swept her tongue across his bottom lip before sucking it into her mouth. She felt his body fall into hers and wanted to rock him close. Then she dove deeper for another taste of his desire for her, another stroke of his tongue. She was dizzy with lust when Morgan lifted her hips high against the evidence of the passion between them.
Brutal need for him tugged on every nerve end, heralding an abrupt awakening from her chaste widowhood. There was no easing into anything at all, just raw desire for the man in her arms racing through her and making her crazy.
Then there was a knock on the office door.
Morgan eased Thea away, but it wasn’t easy to turn loose.
The desk was mostly clear and he thought about laying her across it, easing himself into her, and then rocking them both until the rhythm between them was all they knew.
Then again the chair at her desk was also big and comfortable. A man-sized chair, Morgan thought, plenty big enough to hold the two of them. It occurred to him to let her do all the work to save his leg for next time.
Once wasn’t going to cut it with this woman. Morgan knew that just from kissing her.
And while he was still wondering what to do, Thea’s mouth was on his neck, her hands molding to his hips and pressing herself against him. Morgan felt her raw, uninhibited desire and fervently promised himself he’d have her one day soon. They would take each other over and over, discovering what it was that drew them together. It helped him to believe that.
It was critical to keep every possibility in mind as he made himself push her away.
“Thea. . .the door. Someone’s at the door,” Morgan said, almost falling when she pulled away from him finally. His wounded leg had stiffened, and then folded on him the moment he wasn’t leaning into her.
“Who is it?” Thea called, her hands clenching and unclenching in Morgan’s shirt as he righted himself trying to stand without her support.
She wanted to ask Morgan if she had hurt him, but the answer might have prompted her to strip away the layers and check for herself.
Thea wanted the man, wanted to steep herself in Morgan Reed’s desire for her until she felt strong enough to fight back against death one more time in her life.
Thea couldn’t let go of Morgan immediately, but she couldn’t look at him either. She wasn’t sure what she would do about any of it yet, wasn’t sure at all that she wouldn’t just drag Morgan Reed to the floor of her office if she saw a chance to do so.
Amy called softly through the door. “Tom is here to see you. He said it was urgent or I wouldn’t bother you. I’m sorry.”
Damn it, Thea thought. There was only one reason she could think of that would bring her accountant to visit her. The quarterly results were not good.
“It’s okay, Amy. Morgan and I are just about finished,” Thea said, shutting her ey
es on the lie.
When she opened them again, Morgan’s gaze on hers said he knew she had no choice and that he would have done the same thing.
“Tell Tom five minutes. Then send him back.”
Morgan leaned into her, kissed her temple, kissed her hair, and then hugged her tightly one last time.
“Don’t worry. We’re not finished,” he whispered fiercely, just in case she was thinking differently.
Thea was shaking her head no.
“No. We’re not finished. I—thanks for—I haven’t felt like this in a long time,” she said finally, making herself let go of his shirt and put some distance between them. “I’m not handling this very well, Morgan.”
“Oh yes you are,” Morgan said, a low rumbling laugh supported his teasing. “You’re doing so well in fact that I can’t wait for you to handle this again. Remind me to show you specifics next time.”
Thea snorted, not really able to laugh, but she appreciated Morgan’s teasing for the distraction he meant it to be.
“Thank you for helping me today,” Thea told him quietly, lifting a hand to his face briefly in a friendly gesture.
Stunned by the gratitude conveyed in such a simple touch, Morgan nodded as Thea’s hand slipped away.
“I’ll be back,” he said, walking to the door slowly and deciding he would see her again that night.
Kissing her again was all he was going to be able to think about for the rest of day anyway.
Chapter 7
“You’re sure about this?” Thea asked, the question moot already. Tom wouldn’t be sitting her office looking forlorn if he wasn’t sure.
“If the trend I noticed continues, you’ve got two more months in the black, and after that you’ll be sliding into the red,” he said stoically. “It’s just the economy, Thea. People are scaling back on eating out. Your sales seem to be dropping more every month.”
“I won’t scale back on quality,” Thea said quietly. “I’d rather close the doors than offer less. People deserve good food and good service, Tom. Tourism is down because of rising gas prices and the amount of jobs moving out of Sedona. I’ve noticed my lunch crowd is all that’s left. Maybe I’ll try closing for dinner.”
“Then you’ll lose your best staff to people who can afford them full-time. You can’t pay all the bills with just the lunch crowd,” Tom said. “Thea, I wouldn’t suggest this if I had any other solutions, but why don’t you let me look for someone to buy you out.”
“Not yet,” Thea said firmly. “Delilah is dying, but on the off-chance of a miracle, I will not let her see the business she and my father-in-law built close in her lifetime. If I fail later, fine. I’ll take the licks. While Delilah Carmichael lives, I’ll find a way to get by.”
“You don’t even want to work in this business.”
Seeing the set of her chin, Tom changed tactics.
“Okay, I know how stubborn you are—how about this solution? I still want you to marry me, Althea,” Tom said. “I know you don’t love me, but I would take good care of you. I could make your life so much better. And I’m good in bed.”
It wasn’t the first time Tom had brought up the subject of marriage, but it saddened her as it did every time. She just didn’t feel that way about him.
“Go marry Sylvia Latham,” Thea told him. “That woman adores you. You’ve been sleeping with her for five years now. Make an honest woman out of her, Tom.”
“You know I’ve been waiting on you to get over Angus’s death,” Tom told her, not joking at all.
“Marriage is more than just picking the right woman and making a suitable match. And I have gotten over Angus—or at least I’m starting to finally,” Thea said, leaning back in her office chair.
“Really?” Tom asked, the sardonic twist of his mouth saying he didn’t believe her one bit. “I’ve seen no evidence of that.”
Thea sighed. She hated to be cruel to a man who had been a good friend, but there seemed to be no other way to communicate how serious she was other than to just be brutally honest with him.
“I’ve got a thing for Gerald’s son. He’s only here for a few months, which suits me perfectly. I’ve decided to take a page from Gerald’s book and just dally with a man now and again when I get the urge. You are a great guy, but you won’t ever be one of the men I dally with,” she told him, using words meant to tease rather than hurt his ego.
“Why not?” Tom said, surprised by her vehement denial of any possibility of a more intimate relationship. Thea was damn good-looking, not to mention she was as good-hearted as a woman ever gets. “I dally well, Thea.”
Thea snorted. “I need friends more than lovers. I only seem to need to dally once in a decade. Friends and business partners I need all the time.”
Tom sighed, realizing that Thea was never going to see him as a potential lover. “I see you’ve given this friend thing considerable thought.”
“I give everything considerable thought,” Thea agreed. “You know I do.”
“Yes, I know,” Tom said. “Okay. I won’t press you more about it.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Well, just so you know where you stand in the rest of your finances, Delilah has enough life insurance to pay for funeral expenses. There will be some balance on the nursing home bill, but not a lot. You don’t have to pay that off. They can write it off the same as every other medical institution.”
“Yes, I do have to pay it off,” Thea corrected. “Angus would want me to, and that’s all the reason I need. This is his business I’m running, and I am taking care of my mother-in-law’s debts. Gerald can’t do anymore than he’s already doing.”
“I swear you and Gerald Reed are a pair. I’ve never known people with better hearts. His son’s going to fall in love with you, Althea Carmichael. Then you’re going to find yourself in a real dilemma,” Tom told her. “If the man is anything like Gerald at all, he won’t be set aside as easily as me or the other men who wanted to love you.”
“Morgan is not going to fall in love with me,” Thea said. “He’s leaving in four months and going back to his job in Las Vegas. In the meantime, he will comfort me through losing Delilah, and I will think of him fondly for the rest of my life.”
“You know what they say about the best laid plans,” Tom warned. “Some men take getting laid more seriously than women.”
Thea hooked her arm in his as she walked him out.
“Yes, but Gerald has taught me that you can love many people in many different ways and honor each relationship. If my Aunt Lydia hadn’t gotten to him first, I might have given Gerald a spin myself if he would have had me. Frankly though, I don’t think I have the energy to keep up with him.”
Tom laughed. “Yeah, right. I know how you really feel about Gerald. You’re just trying to let me down easy. Is his son as good as his father?”
Thea laughed. She had no idea what kind of man Morgan was, but he sure knew how to kiss.
“I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think so. Morgan doesn’t seem to be nearly as nice as his father, but he has some redeeming qualities.”
“Like what? No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know,” Tom said, pulling away from her and walking to the door to the sound of Thea’s snickering laughter behind him.
Leaving did not stop Tom Reynolds from being interested in seeing the man that had snapped Althea Carmichael out of her grief, and he wondered how to wrangle an introduction. If all Thea wanted from him was friendship, then Tom would at least be the best friend he could be to her.
Who knew what would happen after the man left town? She might reconsider Tom’s offer then. And if that was the case, he needed to see for himself what kind of man the woman liked other than Angus Carmichael. It shouldn’t take much investigation to check out Gerald’s son and make sure he was decent.
*** *** ***
Morgan laid the two button-up shirts he’d bought on the bed, trying to decide which one to wear tonight. He was going to dinner at the restaurant, and if
he got lucky, he was going home with Thea.
“Go with the blue stripe,” Gerald said from the door. “Sorry. It was open. I figured it was okay to stop in and say hi.”
“It’s fine Dad. You think Thea will like the blue stripe?” Morgan asked.
Gerald shrugged.
“Don’t know, but blue is supposed to be calming. It might help you at least,” he said, laughing when his son didn’t correct him or say anything snippy back.
Morgan picked up the blue striped shirt and slipped it on.
“Thea doesn’t need to be alone tonight. She got some bad news about a family member today,” he said softly.
“Yes. I know. It’s her mother-in-law,” Gerald said, his own tone sober. Looking at Morgan’s face, he could tell his son was concerned about Thea’s frame of mind about it.
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Morgan about his own relationship to Delilah, but Gerald still wasn’t sure his son could accept his being committed to a dying woman while he was sleeping with another one. Nor did Gerald think Morgan would believe him if he said he loved them both.
He certainly didn’t need anyone’s judgment weighing him down on top of the grief.
“You know the person who’s dying?” Morgan asked, noticing for the first time how tired his father looked.
“Yes. I know her very well,” Gerald said carefully. “I’m going to miss her terribly when she’s gone. Delilah Carmichael is a special woman, probably the sweetest one I ever met next to your mother.”
Morgan stopped buttoning his shirt and turned. “I’m sorry, Dad. You sound as down about it as Thea. You need me to stay home with you tonight? I’m sure Thea will be okay.”
Gerald took a moment answering to make sure he wouldn’t get too mushy on Morgan and scare him, but it was damn hard to keep it all inside when his son was offering support.
“No. I’m going to a friend’s,” Gerald said shortly. “That’s what I came to tell you. I didn’t want you to worry that I’m not at home. You head on back to the restaurant.”
The Right Thing Page 6